Hold On to Me
by EndlessMoonrise
Summary: Maddy assumed Rhydian told her everything, that's just the way it was with them, so when the pack make a surprising discovery, Maddy's not happy, but she's determined to put things right... "Maddy, I can't." He tried to escape but I pulled on his hand, drawing him closer. "Yes you can." I told him. "Just hold on to me." ... Takes place after 'Dances with Wolfblood's.'
1. Chapter 1

**AN- Awww should have known I couldn't stay away from Maddian for too long, now that we're in September, what's supposed to be new wolfblood season I'm getting all nostalgic, but filming's up and running I guess, and I'm keeping my eyes peeled at my old school and the surround woods, hoping to catch a glimpse!**

 **This is hopefully gonna be a two shot, that's what I've planned anyway, but you never know with me. Bit of a random idea, but it stuck in my head until I wrote it down.**

 **For those reading my Ceri/Gerwyn story, it is by no means finished, believe me, but I did say on my last update I would like to write more Maddian in between and here it is! Hope you enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer- I do not own Wolfblood**

 **Hold On to Me**

 **Rhydian's POV**

Maddy, Tom and Shan whooped, hollered and howled as the ran down the grass bank towards the river, tossing their bags down and kicking off their shoes as they went. They jumped into the air and over the edge of the bank. Maddy's extra speed took her further out than the other two but they all landed in the water together, causing a giant wave to spray onto the grass and onto their stuff. I rolled my eyes and started to pull their things back and under a nearby tree.

They all emerged from under the water at different times, gasping presumably from the cold. Once again Maddy was first, I guessed since we were faster runners, we could swim faster too...shortly followed by Tom and Shannon in quick succession.

They splashed and mucked around in the water, finally cooling off from the the intense summer heat wave we'd had over the last few days, I'd personally never believed the North East could get this warm. I moved under the tree myself, grateful for the shade and pulled my sketchbook out from between the straps of my backpack before shrugging it off. I settled down in the shade, watching the three of them paddle.

Swimming hadn't been my idea... Obviously. It had been Maddy's and as soon as Maddy mentioned the idea the others had been all for it, so I just went along with the rest of them... I wasn't sure what I'd planned to do once I got here... I definitely didn't want them finding out... I just hoped perhaps I'd be able to talk my way out of it...

Maddy could hold her breath for about thirty-five seconds, I knew that because I counted, and I counted because it made me nervous when she went under the water for so long. I didn't like that she was someplace I couldn't help her, or protect her. She seemed comfortable enough, but you always did hear stories on the news, especially about rivers like this, of people being washed away by the currents, pulled under and drowning...

I shook my head to try and clear it, mentally scolding myself for being such a pessimist. I got like that when my anxiety got the better of me, which these days was usually when Maddy was doing something dangerous. Like facing off with Alric, or walking home in the dark... Or swimming in deep river water... I got a little too overprotective sometimes.

I watched until I was convinced they all seemed comfortable enough in the water before pulling my sketchbook into my lap. One thing I did like was drawing the water, it was a challenge, since it was always shifting and changing and reflected the sky and the trees that hung over it, but it was worth it if you got it right. I started drawing Maddy, Tom and Shannon first though, the three of them in mid flight as they'd jumped into the river below.

I reached for my pocket out of habit, which usually housed my rubber and pencil sharpener, but these weren't my jeans. They were swim shorts and they didn't even have pockets. I'd lied to the others about 'misplacing' my own pair while moving to the Vaughn's, in the hope that I'd be excused from swimming, the truth was there was no need for me to own any, but you know what Maddy's like once she got an idea into her head, I'd been forced into borrowing a pair of Tom's instead.

The girls were in swimsuits and shorts, but you could only really see from their shoulders up while they were swimming, Shannon's hair was secured back in one of her elaborate plaited hair styles to keep it out of her face, one of which I would not be attempting to draw from so far away so I sketched a rough outline and left it at that for now. Maddy's hair was down, as always, but slicked back by the water.

Maddy didn't like having things in her hair, not hair ties or those funny bumpy wiry things. She didn't like people touching it, except perhaps for me. Which was lucky since I tended to play with it absentmindedly when we were watching films, or when I was particularly worried about something, the slow repetitive movements calmed me down the same way sketching did, as long as I didn't try to tie it back she didn't mind, so I let myself weave it through my fingers... Her hair was my favourite part of her to draw, after her eyes...

"Hey!" Maddy waved from the water, looking up over the riverbank. "Daydreaming?" She laughed.

I scoffed lightly, rubbing the back of my neck. "...Yeah." I agreed, as long as I didn't tell her what I was daydreaming about we were okay...

She smirked at me and swam closer craning her neck to look over the edge. "Lemme see." She motioned to my sketchbook so I turned it around for her so she could see my half finished outline. "That's going to look so epic." She grinned, then her eyes narrowed in mischief. "Still I was half expecting to see me in my swimsuit." She sniggered.

I pursed my lips and looked away as I felt my cheeks heat up. Maddy knew I liked her, she'd known since that night on Lindisfarn, the night she got her wolf, which was when I'd first started to notice her. But it was only since I'd come back from the wild that she'd started to tease me about it, I had after all told her I'd get over it... Yeah right.

I wasn't stupid, Maddy herself had told me that, like wolves, Wolfblood's mated for life... And I think, deep down we both knew what we felt for each other was forever... But I wasn't ready for a relationship to start just yet, despite being back nearly six months, I still didn't feel settled, it was ingrained in me to expect to be packed up and moved without warning, and I didn't trust myself not to do something that would get me kicked out of the Vaughn's eventually.

The thought of moving away and leaving Maddy hurt now, I couldn't even fathom how it would feel if we were actually dating, not just for me but for Maddy... And I couldn't hurt her like that.

She knew all this, I'd told her, and the teasing had calmed down for a bit, but every so often she'd throw a little jibe in here and there, like now. "Are y'not coming in the water?" She laughed, paddling on the spot. "Might cool down those cheeks." I rolled my eyes and shook my head, bringing my legs up to my chest and folding my arms over them. No way. Not even for Maddy. "Come on." She pleaded.

"It's cold." I protested feebly.

"Get in and you'll get used to it." She said, exasperated. "It's not even that bad."

"... I don't like being cold." I murmured.

She rolled her eyes. "I know... Shouldn't you have a higher cold tolerance than this? You lived outside for most of the winter."

I scoffed, shuffling just a little closer so I could speak with her better. "Yeah, and it was awful."

She huffed and reached up to tug on my leg "One race." She begged. "These two aren't much competition. I need a Wolfblood challenge."

I rolled my eyes but didn't give in, pulling my leg out of her grip. "I'm not getting in the water."

"Wuss." She accused. "You're just scared you'll lose."

"Maybe I am." I laughed, hoping that if I just agreed with her, she would drop the subject. "I'm fine here." I reassured her. "I'll look after the bags..."

She gave me the puppy eyes, those deep brown orbs peering up at me through her lashes, but luckily I had enough practice at ignoring them. Finally she sighed and swam off back to Tom and Shan dipping and diving under the water.

I sketched as they swam, which I was perfectly happy doing since there were a lot of nice things to draw out here, the river, the trees and the way the sunlight filtered through them onto the grass. I had three sketches so far which I chopped and changed between every so often. It was lovely place to sketch, with the smell of the earth and the wind that weaved through the trees and nothing but the sound of the running water and the pack's laughter.

* * *

It was an hour and a half at least before all three of them swam back to the edge of the bank. "We're getting hungry, thinking of heading to Bernie's." Maddy told me.

I nodded and placed my sketchbook down, before frowning. "Aren't you supposed to wait an hour to eat after swimming?"

"No." She laughed, looking at me strangely. "That's _before_ swimming. That's why we're so hungry!"

"Oh." I started tucking my pencils back into my pencil case instead of continuing with that conversation, like I knew anything about all this anyway, and Tom and Shannon both jumped out onto the bank.

Maddy jumped and tried to pull herself up, only to fall back into the water again, she huffed and pushed her hair out of her face. It wasn't like Maddy not to be able to do something the others couldn't, but then again she was that bit shorter than the rest of us. "Help us up." She hooked one arm over the bank and held the other up towards me so I reached down to grab it. She walked her feet up the sides to climb out and grabbed my other hand, but when I tried to tug her towards me she pulled back.

"Maddy, what are you doing?!" I could feel myself losing my balance and tried to lower myself to the floor, but Tom came up behind me and pushed me into the water, the pair of them laughing giddily.

The shock of the cold made me gasp and I got a mouthful of river water just before my head went under. I felt Maddy swim away from under me and I scrambled to try and put my feet on the bottom but couldn't reach, I panicked, flailing my arms and legs around as I tried to break the surface. When I finally did, it was only long enough to gasp in a breath before I went under again.

My heart pounded in my chest and I could feel my wolf starting to surface, but I didn't even know if turning was the right thing to do at this point. I strained my neck to try and keep my head above the water but I just kept sinking further and further, my now wet clothes pulling me down. The water stung at my eyes, nose and throat and I couldn't stop the choking cough that used up all my air. I couldn't breathe!

It felt like minutes but it could have only been seconds before something splashed in the water beside me and I felt arms wrapping around my chest from behind. I twisted my head rapidly to find Tom pulling me back up and tugging me back towards the bank. Another set of arms wrapped around my shoulders and they pulled me onto the grass. "Turn him around!" Tom instructed. "He breathed in a lot of water."

They did as he asked and I pulled myself up onto my hands and knees, coughing up the water, screwing my eyes shut and digging my fingers into the dirt, I was just relieved to be on dry land again. Tom scrambled up out of the water and patted my back to help me get the water out my lungs. "Rhydian... Breathe, mate."

I did as he asked and drew in a ragged breath, the first since I was pulled out of the water, but my chest was still constricted in panic and my heart continued to beat frantically against my ribs, so it was still difficult...

"Rhydian..." I could only just hear her through my coughing and the roaring in my ears, her voice quiet with fear and guilt.

"Shut up!" I wheezed and dug my fingers deeper into the dirt, still fighting the urge to change even though the danger was over, the veins in my hands were solid black but I fought against it the way I'd been taught and managed to stop my wolf in its tracks. My back burned and I cried out with the effort, my wolf wavered on that point for a few tense seconds, but until eventually it began to recede. I tried to take in deep breaths, and rolled my shoulders and neck back to try and relieve the tense set in the muscles there, until finally I lay down on the bank, exhausted and light headed from all the coughing...

"Rhydian I'm sorry... I didn't know..." Maddy said softly but I cut her off, snarling at her. Her hand was still covering her mouth in shock and her eyes were bright yellow in fear and shining with tears.

"What!? That I can't swim?!" I growled bitterly at her, finally admitting it. "I told you I didn't want to go in!"

"You said that's because it was cold! How was I supposed to know..." She trailed off, confused and I narrowed my eyes at her. "I just assumed..."

I sat up and saw from the corner of my eye as Shannon handed me a towel gingerly, I snatched off her, and quickly wiped the water off my face. "Well, you assumed wrong!" I snapped, still glaring at Maddy. "Perhaps you should stop assuming and just stop to think before pull someone into the water without considering whether or not they can actually swim!"

She looked down guiltily and her tears welled over. Tom ducked his head so that he was in my line of vision. "Look... I'm sorry, mate. We we're just mucking around..."

"I'm not blaming you!" I snapped at him. "I know exactly who put you up to it!"

Maddy turned her head to glare at me, but even angry she was still crying. "If you'd just told us! Instead of making up daft excuses!.." Her arms flew around animatedly, like they always did went she was frustrated.

"What fifteen year old in there right mind would admit it Maddy!? Even in primary school the other kids took the mick out of me!" I shouted as much as my throat would allow.

"I'm not 'other kids' Rhydian! I'm me! You know fine well I wouldn't have made fun of you!"

I growled at her to shut her up, looking away as my cheeks burned with embarrassment, and stood, kicking the ground as my shoes squelched around my feet. I began gathering up my things, not wanting to talk about it anymore, and the others followed suit silently, Maddy's anger faded and I could hear her sniffling back tears, but I didn't acknowledge her, not until I heard her small intake of breath and followed her eyes to find my sketchbook soaked in water.

I snarled under my breath and picked it up gingerly, watching the pages drip, stained black with ink and graphite and charcoal. She knew how much my sketches meant to me! This was all her fault! "...You've ruined my sketches!" I seethed.

She bit her lip nervously as more tears rolled over her cheeks. "I'm sorry..." I shook my head and grabbed my bag before storming off, back towards the woods.

I'd disappeared in the trees but still heard as they began speaking again. "I thought wolves were strong swimmers..." Shannon said quietly.

"Shan." Maddy sighed. "I'm sorry, but can we not try and break this down with science... You'd think he would have at least been able to keep himself from drowning... Tread water..."

Tom sniggered. "Don't you mean doggy paddle?" There were two synchronised thumps from the girls, and I grabbed a pinecone and lobbed it in an arc through the trees and at the back of his head, this was exactly why I didn't tell anyone.

I only just heard Tom's resulting. "Oww." Before I was out of earshot.

* * *

When I finally got back to the Vaughn's my clothes were still damp, but luckily for me the sun was still warm enough to keep off the chill. I took my shoes off at the door in the hope that the they would dry and walked in, throwing my bag down at the base of the stairs. "Rhydian?" Mrs Vaughn called from the kitchen.

"Yeah." I muttered, confirming it was me.

"I wasn't expecting you back so soon... How was swimming?" I walked into the kitchen and she looked up from cooking dinner, taking in my appearance and smirking. "Go get changed." She laughed and shook her head. "You look like a drown pup." I refrained from telling her just how accurate that description was, and dropped my sketch book on the table. Her eyes narrowed and she sighed sadly. "Oh! Your poor sketches!"

I ran my finger down the ring binding. "Can I borrow your hairdryer?" I murmured, I had to at least try and save them, if not the sketches then the rest of the book, I didn't have enough to buy another one until I got my allowance in two weeks time, and I didn't particularly like drawing on plain printer paper...

She nodded and I turned to head up the stairs to shower and change my clothes.

I returned within fifteen minutes, an old sheet and hair dryer in hand, and sat down at the table. I lifted up the cover of my sketchbook and sighed, flipping through and pulling one page from the other, there were a weeks worth of sketches in here. Unlike when I first moved to Stoneybridge, I didn't feel the need to move my sketches one space down my timeline everyday, I didn't usually have time anymore, but I still drew a picture for each day, and updated my timeline every week instead. More fool me apparently, since they were all damaged to varying degrees, the fine liner ones were the worse, the ink bleeding into the page... But the pencil seemed to have fared okay...

I lay my craft sheet over the table, some sort of old heavy quilt I'd bought at a charity shop a few years back, I'd learnt the hard way that foster parents didn't like it when you spilled ink on their carpet, so the quilt's sole purpose was covering my desk or floor while I was working in a particularly messy medium.

I pulled the book towards me and gently prised open the ring binding so I could pull the pages out without ripping them. Mrs Vaughn watched me work, placing each sketch out on the table and using the corner of the sheet to try and dab them dry, but my lines smudged and smeared together, only increasing my frustration. I sighed and put my head in my hands, it was hopeless, there was no way I was going to be able to lay all these pages out, but if I left them in the book they'd stick together...

Mrs Vaughn placed a hand on my shoulder and squeezed it gently. "Mind if I help?"

I shrugged indifferently. "It's ruined anyway."

She pondered for a moment before nipping out into the living room she pottered around, gathering odd bits and bobs from around the house. A ball of string, a box of push pins, some clothes pegs, before tugging the dining room chairs from under the table and pulling them into the space by patio doors. She arranged them so they were turned outwards with their backs together, putting three on one side and two on the other with about five feet between them. I lifted my chair and put it opposite the remaining one, and just watched her in confusion.

She started putting the push pins through the cushions on the back of the chairs and into the wood underneath it, a row of them about an inch apart, before repeating it on the opposite set of chairs. She threaded the string through the push pins in a zig zag pattern and her structure began to make sense. "A washing line." I grinned and shook my head, she'd give Mr Smith a run for his money on building things.

She finished threading, we now had around fifteen rows of string, and tied the end to the last push pin. " She smiled back at me and I went to get my sketches from the table. We spent around twenty minutes pegging up my sketchbook paper, the sun shone through the glass doors which helped it dry, and finally I started taking my sketches from the table. I handed her them one by one but she paused between pegs, taking the time to get a proper look at them, I let her since there wasn't really that much incriminating wolf evidence on there, there were wolves, obviously, just nothing to suggest Maddy, Jana or I were the wolves.

"You're supposed to draw the key points of your day, aren't you?" I nodded, obviously the Vaughn's knew about the art therapy, knew the reason for it, but it was up to me just how much I told them. I was getting better, back when I first moved in I had to go every week, I _needed_ to go every week, but then I met Maddy, found out what I was, figured out how to get a better nights sleep, and the sessions were cut down to once a fortnight. After I got back from the wild things had just kept getting better, I'd been working past my anxiety, my trust issues, so now I only went once a month. "There's a lot of Maddy sketches." Mrs Vaughn teased lightly.

I looked away, embarrassed. "She's my best friend, I can't help it if she's there all the time..."

"Just your friend?" She pressed.

"Yes, just my friend!" I snapped, narrowing my eyes at her. "Just because she so happens to be a girl doesn't automatically mean I'm dating her!" I grabbed a particularly damaged sketch and screwed it up. "You, social services, therapy. You all wanted me to make friends, and now I have it's not enough for you! Has it ever occurred to you that perhaps I'm not ready for a relationship?!" I shoved the quilt and my sketches off the table, growling under my breath. "Just throw them out! I don't care anymore."

"Rhydian!" She called, but I ignored her. I started out the door toward the stairs but she grabbed my wrist and stopped me. "Rhydian, what's wrong? This can't just be because of the sketches..."

I just stood, refusing to meet her eyes. My wolf pulsing just beneath the surface, I was angry, I just couldn't tell who I was angry at anymore. My fingers tapped together restlessly and I let out a heavy breath to try and calm myself down. "I don't know..." I murmured.

She tried to meet my gaze but I wouldn't let her. "...Why don't you give Maddy a call... Ask her over for dinner..." She said hesitantly. Maddy was always her last resort, she'd realised early on that when I went quiet, Maddy could get me talking again.

"Why do you always use Maddy to try and bridge the gap!" I snapped. "Who's saying it isn't Maddy who's the problem!"

As if on cue, my phone buzzed in my pocket so I fished it out with my free hand, 'Maddy' flashed on the screen. I huffed and pressed ignore, keeping my thumb over the end call button, she'd ring again in a few seconds anyway... "You've fallen out with her." She concluded finally.

"Yeah." I muttered, the phone rang so I pressed end before the first ring was over and pulled my arm out of her grip. "Yeah, I have."

I walked back in and pulled my craft quilt up off the floor, untangling my sketches from it and hanging them up on the line, before spreading the sheet out under them. I grabbed the hairdryer and plugged it in, crawling under my sketch paper and lying on my back on the quilt. Finally, I turned the hairdryer on and pointed it towards my sketches... I didn't know what to do anymore...

...

Mrs Vaughn gave me around ten minutes to calm down before coming to sit by my head. She sighed and stroked my hair gently. "Even best friends fall out... You can't agree on everything, the important thing is that you respect each others views and you work around them... It's part of growing up."

I scoffed. "Yeah, well there are a lot of 'parts of growing up' I missed out on."

"Hey now, hold up." She said sternly. "The first thing you said to me when we met was. 'Don't treat me like a care kid.' And I promised you I wouldn't, didn't I? But if you're going to throw things like that at me I have no choice..."

"I know." I mumbled. "I'm sorry." She was right, I didn't like being treated like a care kid, I didn't like the pity, or the way people would put my behaviour down to 'The way I was brought up.'

"Talk to me, Rhydian... I can't help if you won't tell me what's wrong."

I rubbed at my face in frustration and put my arm over my eyes. "Why do you keep me?" That's what it came down to, it was why I was getting annoyed with her. Well, not her specifically, the care system, my old placements. The only reason I couldn't swim was because I'd never stayed anywhere long enough for someone to figure out I hadn't been taught, then the ones that did got sick of me before they had the chance to teach me.

She continued to stroke my hair, but I could tell by the way she paused before answering that the question upset her. "We've had this conversation Rhydian. James and I love you... I'd never try to replace your mum, whoever or wherever she may be, but you're my little boy as well, even if you are fifteen."

I shook my head. "You don't even know my mum..."

"Perhaps not, but I thank her every day for giving me you." I felt her shift and crawl under the the makeshift washing line to lie beside me. "I know you remember more about her than you let on"

I looked away... Even before I met her I did remember more than I let on, but I stayed quiet, anything I remembered didn't match up with what I got told and that confused me. People kept telling me I was abandoned, but when I tried to remember a time before social services, all I could remember was a loving family unit... As I got older I began to doubt myself, until eventually I started to believe the stories I was told.

But then I met her, and I could see the way she looked at me... Her scent brought back buried, fuzzy memories. Not really images, just... feelings, I guess... And I couldn't doubt her anymore

"I know she loves me..." I whispered. I didn't say anymore, a little scared by the overwhelming urged to _tell_ her, tell her that I'd met mum, that she'd wanted me and I was never abandoned, I was lost.

"Then I believe you..." She said softly. "I don't think you've been told that enough, but unless you give me reason not to, I promise I'll always believe you." I laughed quietly, if only she knew... I lied to her every single day...

It was quiet for a few moments before I spoke again... "I can't swim." I said bluntly. Now that Maddy knew it was only a matter of time before the news got back to her anyway.

She narrowed her eyes at me. "But... This afternoon..."

I shrugged. "...I was embarrassed, so I didn't tell the others, just sat on the bank and sketched... " I explained. "... But Maddy was joking around and pulled me into the water..."

"Rhydian..." She sighed. "Do you know how dangerous that was?"

I scoffed. "Well, I do now..." Mrs Vaughn kept her worried eyes locked on mine. "...Tom pulled me out." I reassured quickly. "But I lost my temper with Mads... Shouted at her... And now she's angry at me for not telling her..."

"And so she should be!" She shook her head. "Rhydian, you should have told us, you know James would have taught you."

I scowled at my sketches. "I'm not going to a public swimming pool where everyone can see. I'm fifteen, not five."

She didn't argue... Wanting to learn wasn't the problem, if there was a way for someone to teach me, away from everyone else I'd be all for it... I didn't enjoy being behind everyone else, my grades at school always had been awful, but one thing I had going for me, besides my art, was sport.

I heard movement from outside and sniffed the air, scowling at the scent I found. "Tell her I've gone out." I muttered.

"Tell who?"

She knocked on the door and Mrs Vaughn sat up. "Maddy." I huffed.

Mrs Vaughn rolled her eyes and shuffled her way out from under the washing line.

 **Maddy's POV**.

 _"Help us up." I pushed myself up on the bank, reaching up for his hand and he grabbed it just like I knew he would. Rhydian would do anything for me, we both knew that, and he knew I'd do anything for him in return, neither of us took advantage of that, but we couldn't help pushing the boundaries just a little._

 _I walked up the bank until my feet found purchase on the edge, and leaned back, tugging on his arms. "Maddy, what are you doing?!" He resisted, and since he was stronger than I was, it was working, but then Tom came up behind him just like we'd planned and knocked him off balance._

 _I laughed, feeling my stomach lurch as we fell, up until I hit the water, holding my breath as I was submerged. Rhydian and I collided so I let go of him and untangled myself, swimming out from underneath him and up to the surface. I laughed and paddled towards the edge, jumping up to sit on the bank, with my feet dangling in the water, still giggling as I pushed my hair out of my face and rubbed the water out my eyes._

 _"Rhydian? You ok mate?" Tom called over to him, his concerned tone enough to break my laughter. I looked over to find Rhydian thrashing around in the water and struggling to keep his head above the surface... I watched, stunned as he gasped one last time before disappearing._

 _While I sat, useless and frozen in shock, Shannon pushed Tom towards the river. "He can't swim!" Tom jumped in after him and it was the spray of the water that finally snapped me out of it. I whimpered and was about to push myself off the bank but Shannon grabbed my shoulders and pulled me back. "Tom's got him, give them some space."_

 _Shock was replaced with adrenaline and I felt my wolf flare in panic. "Rhydian!" I hadn't realised I'd started crying until his name came out in a sob, I pulled desperately against Shannon's grip and was about to turn and growl at her but just then Tom resurfaced, pulling Rhydian with him, coughing and spluttering._

 _Shannon let go and we both rushed forward to help pull Rhydian up. I only caught a glimpse of his face before Tom and Shannon turned him over, his eyes shone yellow and black veins pulsed through his cheeks... He was absolutely terrified..._

 _He began to cough up the river water he'd inhaled onto the bank, muscles tense and back arched as he fought the pull of transformation, his hands and nails turning to paws and claws... I stepped back, hands over my mouth to hide my sobs, horrified... This was all my fault_

 _..._

I sniffed and wiped my eyes with the heels of my hands, even now over an hour later and back home, the guilt was eating away at me... I'd hurt him, physically hurt him... He could have drown... I curled up tighter in my spot on the sofa, my face buried against the cushions. I felt awful.

Rhydian meant the world to me... He was my best friend, and the idea that I'd made him feel the way he did when we pulled him out the water, I couldn't believe I'd done that... It wasn't like when we play fought and I bit or hit him a little too hard... or that time during movie night, when we'd battled over the last burger. I'd momentarily forgotton he was a boy and accidently kneed him in a place boys do not like to be kneed...

This... It was up there with the things I'd said to him on his first day at Bradlington high... ' _The sooner you leave, the better.'... 'Let him go, he doesn't belong here.'_ I'd never apologised for that, I was too scared to remind him, see that same hurt in his eyes I'd seen when I'd pushed him away...

I pulled my hands and my phone out of my sleeves, unlocking it and scrolling through my contacts. I hovered over Rhydian's name with my thumb resting on the call button, deciding to ring then deciding not to, putting the phone down then picking it up again. Finally I sighed and let my head fall against the back of the sofa.

Mam sat down beside me and held out her arms. "Come 'ere, Pet." I crawled over to her and snuggled up under her arm and she stroked my hair gently. "As you get older." She said softly. "What you'll realise, is that one of the hardest things you have to learn how to understand are boys." I rolled my eyes at her but she continued regardless. "More complex than that, are teenage boys, and you know what beats that?" She smiled. "Teenage Wolfblood boys."

I scoffed, playing with the ends on my sleeves. "And do you know what trumps the lot?" I huffed. "...Rhydian." She laughed but I didn't join her, I shook my head against her shoulder. "Mam he's supposed to be able to tell us anything... Everything... I thought he knew that..."

"I'm sure he does, Mads, you know more about him than anyone."

"I didn't know enough this afternoon, did I?" I felt bad for discussing this with mam, but when I came in as upset as I had an hour ago, Tom and Shannon had to give her a explanation as to why... So now she knew something Rhydain obviously didn't want anyone to know. "He obviously doesn't trust us enough."

Mam sighed. "I don't think that's it Maddy, not really... I think when it all comes down to it, we need to go back two steps on the complexity scale." I frowned in confusion, brows furrowed. "I think you need to consider the fact that he might just be acting like a normal teenage boy, too embarrassed to admit to the girl he fancies that he can't swim..."

I looked away, I would never get used to mam telling me Rhydian fancied us... "But that's ridiculous."

"I know that, and you know that, deep down he probably knows that, he just needs reminding." She reasoned.

I sighed "... It's not his fault no one taught him... How can you not teach a kid how to swim? All it takes is for him to trip and fall in the water when he's on his own and he could..." I trailed off, I didn't even want to think it...

"He's been moved around a lot Maddy, and something tells me his behaviour was more of a priority to them, it probably just got overlooked." She shrugged.

"His behaviour wasn't his fault either..." I muttered. It was being treated like a human, being misunderstood, that made his temper flare. Rhydian had been assessed by human doctors and psychiatrists all his life, which had resulted in a whole load of misdiagnosis. The anger, that natural wolf energy could all be controlled by teaching him how to handle his wolf, but instead they'd had him on a drug called Ritalin, used to control ADHD. Side effects included; anxiety and insomnia, which he got anyway. Nervous tics, like the one he got in his right hand when he was stressed, the one that meant he wanted to sketch to try and calm himself down, and OCD, which I was convinced he'd picked up to some degree.

With Rhydian things always had to be done a certain way. His sketches had to be in a certain order, on his wall, then stored and labelled in portfolios. Things around the house had to be neat and tidy, dishes cleaned, he'd wash every dish as he used it rather than wait for a pile and do them all at once, he washed his clothes on Wednesday night and Sunday morning without fail and as soon as it was dry it had to be folded and put away... All this royally showed me up when he lived with us, now mam and dad didn't tolerate my excuses for not doing the housework.

His room was arranged with everything in its place, nothing unnecessary, he didn't have little trinkets or boxes, things that held memories like the rest of us. At first I thought it was because he'd just moved in, that perhaps the rest of his stuff was still packed away, but the longer he stayed the more I realised, that was just the way he liked his room.

Ritalin was highly addictive, however, Luckily for him, muscle pain, swelling of the hands and feet, aggression, restlessness and rapid heart rate, all the things we experienced before our first transformation were also all signs of Ritalin overdose, so they'd stopped prescribing it to him before he became too dependant on it.

Mam picked up my phone and passed it to me, breaking me from my inner musings. "Give him a ring, it'll be better to get it sorted sooner rather than later."

I took it from her and scrolled for his name again. Perhaps mam was right, and this wasn't a complex 'Rhydian thing.' Perhaps it was just a 'Teenage boy thing.' I pressed call and lifted the phone to my ear.

It rang for a few seconds before cutting off. ' _Sorry, This person is unavailable to take your call. Pleas-"_ I hung up and pulled the phone back to look at the screen, frowning before pressing the call button again.

It rang only once before the automated message cut in again _. "Sorry, this person is unavailable to-"_ I hung up and growled lowly, shoving my phone in my pocket and standing up.

"What's wrong?" Mam asked.

"He's rejecting me calls!" I fumed. He never rejected my calls, not even on no moon days. He was angry at us, I got that, but how were we supposed to sort this out if he was gonna be a complete cub about it and give us the silent treatment?

Mam grimaced. "Oh no..."

I huffed and moved towards the door, dropping to the floor and pulling on my shoes. I wasn't even the only one in the wrong here! "If he thinks he can get away with that, he's got another thing coming!"

"Madeline." Mam laughed. "Go easy on him."

"Would you go easy on dad if he rejected your calls?.. No? Thought not!" I pulled open the door and ran out in the direction of the Vaughn's.

 **AN- Ohhhhh Rhydian's in trouble... Don't worry though, they won't be arguing too much. Really enjoyed writing this one actually and looking forward to writing part two, not sure when I'll post it, since I'm back at college and trying to juggle work, but I'll get there eventually.**

 **Lunar eclipse tomorrow! We can imagine Maddian running around Canada and giving piggy back rides, to try make up for our Wolfbloodless September.**

 **Until next time!**

 **Please Please Review!**

 **-EndlessMoonrise X**


	2. Chapter 2

**AN- I know! It's been nearly three months and you all deserved a much speedier update, but I'm afraid college projects and work just seems to get in the way at the moment. That and this fic just seems to want to be a mile long. Too many ideas and never enough words! So feel free to go back and read the first chapter if you need to refresh your memory ;)**

 **Just to let you know in advance, I'm not finished with this, even though I said it would just be a two shot, I just don't feel done with it yet!**

 **Anyway! Enjoy!**

 **Disclaimer- I do not own Wolfblood.**

 **Rhydian's POV**

"Rhydian's gone out." Mrs Vaughn told Maddy.

Even though I couldn't see her, I could just imagine the look on her face, eyes narrowed in a glare, lips pressed together in annoyance, and I debated briefly on whether or not to make a break for it out the back door. She scoffed bitterly. "Yeah right."

I expected Mrs Vaughn to stop her, tell her to let me calm down, something, but I heard her laugh softly and step aside. "He's all yours."

I scrambled up from underneath my sketches and further away from the door. I wasn't scared, I knew she wouldn't purposely hurt me, it was just my wolf instincts kicking in... That and she wasn't above growling and giving me a good shove when she thought she needed to, we were part wolf after all. As it was, we had an audience, so she made do with baring her teeth and flashing her eyes at me as she stormed in. "Tell her av gone out?" She fumed. "What d'ya take us for Rhydian!? An idiot?!"

"Do me a favour and dim down the Geordie." I muttered. I'd gotten better with Geordie dialect over the past few months, but when she got like this, when she got angry, her speech got quicker and the accent got broader and I struggled to keep up.

She didn't listen, just continued her rant in full Geordie fashion. "And then y'go and hang up on us, _twice,_ y'know what _,_ not even hanging up _,_ hanging up would be an improvement, you rejected me calls!... What? Y'thought ad just sit back and let ya? I was ringing to try an sort things out!" Her yellow eyes still bore into me and It was only natural for my wolf begin to surface in response, the only problem was, I wasn't the one with my back to Mrs Vaughn.

Maddy took another step towards me and I growled at her, but as long as I kept my eyes human, this wasn't too much. I'd growled at foster parents since I was a kid, and I guess now I knew why. It was usually the last straw for most of them, but Mrs Vaughn was different, the wolf behaviour didn't phase her too much, that and I'd gotten a lot better at controlling it since I came to Stoneybridge, it was only when I was really angry or frustrated that the growls slipped out. "Do not growl at me!" Maddy scolded, still not backing down. "I could have really hurt you! Y'could have drown, and it would've been all my fault because you were too flaming proud to tell me! Your best friend!" Her eyes dimmed to human and finally brimmed with tears.

I looked away from her... I didn't like making her cry... "I'll be in your room until you decide to grow up and sort things out, and don't think I'll just leave, cause I won't." She sniffed and rubbed her eyes with the heels of her hands as she walked out and headed upstairs.

"Well, you'll be waiting a long time then!" I shouted after her.

"Y'll have to go to bed at some point!" I opened my mouth to retort before realising she was absolutely right.

I tried a new tactic. "Get out of my room!" No one was allowed in my room without my permission, that was the way it worked, granted I'd never kept Maddy out before, but there was a first time for everything.

"Come and get us then!"

"Urghh!" I turned to Mrs Vaughn and gestured up the stairs. "Can you tell her?!"

She only laughed and smirked back at me. "No.. I think this is something you need to learn to deal with on your own."

"How am I supposed to sort it when she won't let me get a word in edge ways?" I huffed, all she'd done since she stormed in was shout at me.

"She's upset Rhydian, she thought she'd seriously hurt you... Just take a second to think about how you'd feel if the roles were reversed..." I frowned and turned away from her. "What you feel for her, it doesn't just go one way, Rhydian..."

I huffed and slumped down on the sofa. "I know that..." I could sense the way Maddy felt about me, same way she could sense how I felt about her, that's why we were so open about it to each other. "...I just... I forget sometimes." I wasn't used to having someone take care of me the way Maddy did, so there were times when I was angry of frustrated, that the defences came up and I did... I forgot that she was there for me.

Mrs Vaughn was right, I'd hate it if I hurt Maddy... And yeah... She was probably beating herself up about pulling me into the river... But she really didn't need to, and I really wished she wasn't crying about it...

I tried hard not to give in, to go up and comfort her, since I could still hear her sniffling... I messed with my phone, checking the calendar and counting down the days till full moon, inspecting the damage on my sketches... staring absentmindedly outside... Until finally I caved and headed towards the stairs.

Mrs Vaughn laughed and I narrowed my eyes at her. "What?"

She grinned in amusement. "Not even three minutes."

I rolled my eyes, starting up the stairs. "I'm pathetic, I know.

* * *

When I made it up to my room I found Maddy sat at my desk, pencil clutched tightly between her fingers. I walked over and reached out to touch her shoulder gently. "Mads..."

She shrugged me off, pressing the pencil harder against the paper she was doodling on. "How can can this calm y'down when it's so bloody frustrating!" She dropped the pencil and picked up a rubber from my desk organiser, erasing her latest drawing. Maddy was good at art, and with her interest photography she was top in the class, at least she had been until I came along, but she was much more comfortable with her cameras and computer screens than she was with a pencil and paper. She was more than capable of drawing if she wanted to, I just think she needed the reassurance of being able to see what she was drawing.

"You can't draw when you're that worked up..." I murmured, reaching around her for her hand and making her pick up the pencil again.

"You do." She muttered as I rearranged her fingers.

"It's different with me... You know that..." My psychological response to sketching changed once I started the art therapy, it had given me a way to express myself in a way I'd never be able to do with words... As soon as I picked up a pencil, felt the sketch paper beneath my fingers, I felt my muscles relax, because I knew that emotional release was just around the corner. It was why I tapped my fingers together when I was frustrated or nervous, just those familiar movements were enough to relieve some of that anxiety.

I held the pencil with her, moving our hands to sketch out the basic shapes that would make up a wolf. Two circles for the head and the muzzle, triangles for the ears, ovals for the chest and back leg.

She let me guide her across the paper, and I sighed, resting my head against her shoulder and rubbing her back with my free hand. She was tense, we got like that when we were upset or scared, our instincts kicked in and our fight or flight reflex was ramped up a notch, which was why we lost our tempers so quickly.

I rolled my knuckles gently down her spine, pressing against the pressure points there and rubbing her shoulders. I could tell she was trying not to react, but I also knew how good this felt, since she'd do the exact same thing to me when I worked myself up. Finally she began to roll her shoulders back a little and give in, relaxing against me.

She took control of the pencil after that, joining our shapes to outline the wolf on the page and I pressed my nose against her neck, breathing in her scent and nuzzling against her hair. I heard her scoff and frowned in confusion. "What?"

She laughed quietly. "Y'get all fixated my scent when it starts to fade from our swapping pillows..." She explained. "Like some creepy obsessive stalker. Then you get stroppy 'cause you're tired, how much sleep did you get last night?"

I shrugged. "We were texting till around one in the morning, it was about two hours after that I managed to get to sleep." I didn't wake up from nightmares like I had before, I hadn't gotten that bad since before Maddy started giving me her scent to sleep with, but I struggled to drift off once it started to fade. What I hadn't realised though, was that I got that way with Maddy when it did.

She nodded, continuing to sketch the fur on our wolf. "We'll swap them back over tomorrow." Her voice was still quiet, upset, but not really angry anymore, which I was grateful for. I pressed my nose against her shoulder and made her place the pencil back down on the desk, tracing her thumb with mine. She turned her head against my temple and nudged it gently with her nose.

Sorry.

Neither of us would have said it out loud first, we were too stubborn for that, but Maddy didn't always need to speak for me to understand what she was saying, it came from learning to communicate as wolves, certain looks, touches, gestures, all meant different things to us, that and we'd just about sussed the others thought processes, understood how their mind worked. I could often figure out what she was thinking just by looking at her.

I smirked and turned my head to lick her cheek the way I would have in wolf form. She wrinkled her nose and pulled her head away. "Ughh!" She shoved me, sending herself rolling away on the desk chair, and wiped her cheek with the back of her sleeve. "You're disgusting!"

I laughed and backed up slightly, but she ran at me and pushed me backwards, we grappled with each other, but being taller and stronger, I definitely had the upper hand... Well, that was until the backs of my legs collided with the edge of the bed and I toppled over. She jumped on top of me and pinned me down, a hold I would have been able to break out of if we'd had more room to tussle. As it was we were on a single bed and I was scared of knocking her onto the floor and hurting her.

She growled playfully and I felt her teeth nip at my neck, when we play fought, even though we were still in human form our wolf behaviour always intensified. As long as no one was watching we weren't bothered anyway, it wasn't awkward for us, being this close to each other. It might have been strange for Tom and Shannon, especially since we kept telling them we weren't dating, but when you shifted between two forms you couldn't be too self conscious anyway

We curled up to sleep as wolves every full moon, it was just what wolves did, to keep warm and protect each other, but inevitably you shifted back to human form and woke up in compromising positions, arms wrapped around each other, legs tangled, heads pressed against necks, and at the end of the day there was only so many times you could avoid eye contact and mumble embarrassing apologies and excuses, and eventually you just got used to it, maybe even liked it...

I twisted my head to bite her back, not hard, we never really hurt each other, just enough to feel it. I tried and once again failed to sit back up, so I submit and stopped fighting her, letting her win. She growled and shoved me against the pillows, nipping at me again as if to prove a point, and I laughed, trying to pull away from her teeth. "Come on Mads, I don't want to have to explain away another hickey to Tom and Shannon."

She let go, and pulled her mouth away, lying down against my shoulder with a heavy sigh. "That last one wasn't just me." She mumbled against my shirt and I scoffed.

She was right, we we're usually careful not to leave marks on each other, but we had been caught out twice before. The first time had been during Maddy's first transformation, Maddy was still getting used to her wolf so she honestly hadn't known how hard to bite, it was the second time the others tormented us about.

Lunar eclipse...

Neither of us had really known what to expect, and even after experiencing it first hand it was difficult to describe, amazing, but still extremely disorientating. I guess it was like your human and your wolf mentality were scrambled and blurred together. You'd be thinking one way one second the the other the next, all while in human form.

We acted a lot more like a couple in wolf form, perhaps we even were a couple, it was hard to tell, and wolves mouthed and licked each other as a sign of affection, so that night whenever Maddy said or did something particularly endearing that urge would present itself, then my brain would kind of go. ' _Hang on, she's still human'_ do a u-turn and suddenly the urge to kiss her was a viable substitute.

The urge to kiss her that night had almost been overwhelming... Almost.

We'd been play fighting, not unlike we had been just seconds ago, and I'd gone to pin her down with my teeth when the human resurfaced, her scent had been everywhere, overwhelming all my other senses, the rush of full moon, of the eclipse, made my thoughts whirr... And I'm pretty sure that particular bite ended more with lips than teeth...

And I'm pretty sure that wasn't the only one... on either of our parts.

I knew I hadn't kissed her, Jana, had kicked snow at us and snapped us out of it before we'd...I'd... gotten too carried away, but neither Maddy or I could recall whether that particular encounter had been two wolves mouthing... Or two teenagers... Necking, for want of a better phrase. Our heads had been all over the place, but regardless we'd ended up with matching hickeys and the others had teased us mercilessly for it no matter what we said to excuse them.

I wound her hair around my fingers and tugged it gently. "At least you had something to cover it up with."

She sighed, obviously not fully engaged in the conversation, pressing her forehead against my shoulder and sniffling again. "...I'm sorry" She murmured. "I shouldn't have pulled you in."

I turned my head against her hair. "I shouldn't have shouted at you." I told her quietly. "So I'm sorry too."

"You could have drown, Rhydian! And it would have been all my fault!" Her voice broke and she sobbed quietly. "What if we'd run off?"

I lifted us up, holding her in my lap. "Hey... Hey..." I lowered my head to try and meet her eyes but she wouldn't let me. "You didn't Maddy, and I'm fine, Tom pulled me out."

"I could of!" She shook her head, holding herself up on the tops of my arms. "Rhydian we could've ran off, just as a joke, thinking you'd pull yourself up an chase us..." She ran her hands up, over my shoulders and around my neck. "It terrifies me, what I could have done to you, that I could of..."

"You didn't." I cut her off, pushing her hair back out of her eyes. "I got a shock and got a little bit soggy, Mads. That's all."

She finally looked up at me, eyebrows furrowed. "Why didn't you tell us?"

I frowned. "'Us' as in you, Tom and Shan? Or 'Us' as in the Geordie version of 'me'?"

She scoffed. "Geordie version of 'me.'" She clarified. "Look, I know you wouldn't have said anything in front of Tom and Shannon, but you could have pulled us aside... Me aside..." She corrected.

I sighed and looked away from her, down at the floor. "...I was embarrassed." I admitted.

She touched my cheek, urging me to face her. "Rhydian, the amount of times I've made myself look like a complete idiot, in front of you... I've showed myself up, dressed up in leather jackets, makeup, hair extensions. Turned up at your door in the middle of the night, run off, mad with Eolas. Acted blatantly jealous and possessive, the second Jana came sniffing too close, given you hickeys, woken up in your arms, curled up against you... I've screamed, I've cried... And let's not forget the famous opening line..."

"You smell like my parents." We said simultaneously, both laughing at the memory.

She turned her head to meet my eyes. "D'ya think that didn't embarrass us?" She smirked.

I shrugged, reaching up to chase a stray tear off her cheek. It had never really occurred to me that she should have been embarrassed about those things. She played with the hair at the nape of my neck, watching me silently for a few seconds. "This isn't something you should be embarrassed about." She said finally, as if reading my mind. "Do I care if you can swim or not?... No, I don't... And to put your stupid teenage boy mind to rest, it doesn't make me stop fancying you." She laughed, her cheeks flushing lightly, and I smirked back at her. "What annoys me is that it's been overlooked for so long, someone should have at least taught you how to keep yourself afloat, just incase, for your own safety..."

Her eyes softened and her cheeks settled back to their usual colour. "Let me teach you, back at the river... You'll pick it up in no time, It's mostly instinct with us anyways, and the hot weather is supposed to last 'til Monday at least."

"You'll teach me?" I asked in surprise, I'd never have expected her to, why she'd want to have to deal with me thrashing around like a kid was beyond me.

She rolled her eyes. "I've just this minute said it annoys me that someone hasn't taught you, so why wouldn't I? It's our job to keep each other safe, whether that's from Kyle, Alric and Whitewood, Jimi and his mates or in this case the water. It's my job to look after you, and teaching you to swim is my way of doing that."

I hugged her to me, pressing my nose against her neck. "Really?"

"Really." She laughed. "You only needed to ask."

I squeezed her tighter and nuzzled her cheek softly. "Thanks, Mads."

* * *

She rolled her eyes "It's really not that difficult... My, me. Me, us. Us, we and our, wer. As in 'me mam's taking us to Shan's so w'can finish wer homework."

I scoffed. "Basically you want me to forget proper english." I shook my head. "No matter how many times you try to justify it, Geordie will never make sense." I laughed. "I'm finding it easier to learn Welsh."

She smirked in amusement and leaned back against my legs. "How's that going, I keep forgetting to ask."

I shrugged. "Mum taught me a lot while I lived with the wild pack, but I've been practicing since I got back, hoping to surprise her... I think she gets a kick out of hearing me speak Welsh, since that's what I spoke when I was a cub."

She nodded in understanding. Even though they hadn't met again since the day I left for the wild, Maddy understood mum a lot more now that I'd explained things to her. Mum was a difficult person to understand unless you managed to sit her down and get her to talk to you. I guess we were very similar in that respect...

"Say something." Maddy urged

"Something." I grinned and she shoved me playfully.

"You know what I mean, say something in Welsh."

I mentally scanned my Welsh vocabulary and smirked when I found the word I wanted. "Rhywbeth"

"What's that mean?"

"'Something.'" I laughed. She batted my chest, lips pursed to try and hide her amusement. "I don't know what you want me to say, Mads..." She continued to watch me expectantly and I rolled my eyes. She wasn't going to give up, she was nothing if not determined. It was that determined streak that got her into trouble, but it was also one of my favourite things about her, I liked that she would stand up for herself, that she wasn't afraid to argue with me if she didn't agree with me, I needed that, especially when I got myself into a 'strop' as she called it, just like I had this afternoon.

When she looked at me like that it was hard to figure out if I wanted to look away or look straight back into her eyes. I never thought I'd feel about someone the way I felt about Maddy... Never thought I'd ever want to... She'd saved me, she really had... I'd been in a dark place before I'd met her. Lonely, angry, I was a danger to others, to myself and no matter how hard to tried, I couldn't find my way out... Until I met her... She was my light...

"Fi cariad i chi..." The words were out my mouth before I could stop them and I froze, my eyes widening and I felt my cheeks flush.

... I'd just told her I loved her...

There was I few seconds where my stomach flipped, as if it was expecting Maddy to be able to translate what I'd just blurted out, but instead she narrowed her eyes and laughed quietly. "You're blushing, what did you say?"

I rubbed the back of my neck nervously and quickly shook my head. "Nothing." Yeah, that was understatement of the century. I looked away and rolled my eyes at myself, looking away seemed like a much safer option now, when I looked at her I blurted out stupid things. Stupid Welsh things apparently...

"Come on." She laughed. "Tell me."

"You... You never told me I had to translate." I stuttered nervously. She couldn't know I'd said that, it wasn't that it wasn't true, or that she didn't already know... I just... I didn't want to complicate things... I didn't want to get her hopes up.

"Rhydian." She whined, and I tried to gently push her off me, to put some distance between us when there was a knock on the door. The noise made me jump since I hadn't even heard anyone climb the stairs and Maddy touched my shoulder to steady me.

Mrs Vaughn pushed the door open, took one look at the way Maddy was sat in my lap and raised an eyebrow. Maddy shifted to try and climb away from me but I held her still. "It's not what it looks like Mrs Vaughn, we're just talking." She said nervously and I groaned.

"Seriously, Mads?!"

"What?!"

"Well firstly you try to scramble away, which couldn't make us look more guilty even if you tried, then you go and say... 'It's not what it looks like.' That's basically parent speak for _'it's exactly what you think it is.'"_

She frowned in confusion. "But it really _isn't_ what it looks like."

I shook my head is disbelief. "The first thing you need to learn is that you're only ever as guilty as you look."

Mrs Vaughn laughed at the pair of us. "How many times have you gotten yourself off the hook with that one, eh Rhydian?"

I sniggered "Believe me, you don't want to know."

She smiled softly and shook her head. "I guess you two have made up then, or have I interrupted one of you mid rant?"

"We're fine." I said quickly, trying to move the conversation away from what was happening just before she opened the door. "Perfect timing actually."

She held up two cans of cola and tossed them towards us. I caught them both and handed one to Mads. "I thought you might be thirsty." She explained. "Plus, I wanted to check if Maddy wanted to stay for dinner."

I smirked and shook my head. She'd come up here to make sure I was 'behaving' and we both knew it. Maddy tapped to top of her can lightly. "I'll give mam a ring and let you know, but I should be alright to stay over." She told her.

She nodded and turned to leave before pausing and turning back. "He is keeping his hands to himself, isn't he?"

I closed my eyes and pinched the bridge of my nose. "Don't worry." Maddy laughed. "He's been the perfect gentleman... Honestly Michelle, it's part of his therapy.

Mrs Vaughn seemed to buy it, Maddy actually wasn't too bad at coming up with accuses, as long as you gave her time to unscramble her thoughts. As it was, it was a pretty good save. One thing all the therapists I'd had wanted me to work on becoming more comfortable with people touching me, they all wanted me to practice with my foster parents, but when you shifted between houses every couple of weeks it was hard to let my guard down before I was moved again.

When my current therapist realised how comfortable I was becoming with Maddy she suggested I try it with her, and now the fleeting touches and the hugs didn't bother me, I could lie with her and not feel as though I had to shift away or get up and move completely.

Mrs Vaughn caught my eye. "I'm leaving the door open."

"There's really no need..." I muttered, looking away.

"You do remember what we talked about?" She said pointedly.

I scoffed. "Believe me, that particular conversation has been scarred into my brain." I told her quickly, hoping she'd drop it.

Maddy looked between the two of us in confusion. "Have I missed something?"

I shook my head. "I'm supposed to keep my door open when you're up here now." I explained to her, before looking up at Mrs Vaughn. "I forgot, honestly…" I closed my door out of habit more than anything else, the last thing Maddy and I needed was to be over heard while we were talking about Wolfblood stuff. I nodded back towards Maddy. "It's your fault for falling asleep in my bed last dark mo- after the disco." I corrected quickly.

Maddy had ended up sleeping here after the disco since none of us had been able to get hold of her parents to come and pick her up. We'd been practically comatose by the time we got back, but I managed to round up one of my T-shirt's for her to sleep in and she'd gone into the bathroom for a quick shower.

While she was there I was supposed to have set up a bed for myself on the floor, Mrs Vaughn had stressed that point about five times before we'd even headed upstairs, but then my mattress looked ten times comfier than it normally did and I lay down ' _just for five minutes_.' That's what I'd told myself anyway...

When I opened my eyes next it was morning, and Maddy was curled up beside me with her head tucked under my chin. We were covered in one of the quilts Mrs Vaughn kept in the cupboard… she'd obviously found us that way and hadn't the heart to wake us up, but I didn't half get an earful once Maddy went home.

Maddy sniggered, covering her mouth with her hand to hide her grin. "Oh my god! She gave you a sex talk, didn't she?" I sighed, she'd got it in one, and heaven knows I wasn't going to hear the end of it anytime soon. "I can just imagine the look on your face!" She continued laughing as she opened her can of pop, letting the fizz out slowly so it didn't explode.

"It seemed appropriate at the time." Mrs Vaughn defended, still, she did look just a little guilty.

"It was mortifying at the time! That's what it was! Considering the most I've ever gotten from a girl is a kiss on the cheek!"

Maddy snorted and leaned forward to press her lips to my cheek. "Mwah!" she giggled as she pulled away and I rolled my eyes at her. She bit her lip and lay back against my legs. "Sorry, I'm still finding your imaginary face too hilarious." She laughed.

I glanced up at Mrs Vaughn and nodded down at her. "She's gonna be insufferable, you do know that?" Maddy lifted her pop to her lips. Her suppressed giggles echoing in the can as she drank.

Mrs Vaughn held her hands up in defence. "I was just being a responsible parent... Besides I'm far too young to be a foster-grandma."

It took a few moments for that comment to register, but once it did Maddy spat out the cola she was drinking, straight into my face. "What?!" We spluttered simultaneously.

I wiped my face with my sleeve and looked briefly down at my now cola sprayed bed covers. "Maddy! I have to sleep on here you know?!"

Mrs Vaughn was leaning against the doorframe laughing at us as Maddy finally scrambled up and off my lap.

 **AN- Like I said, not done, but it was getting long and I wanted to get something up for you guys as a Christmas time treat! I'll be busy these next couple of weeks so I highly doubt you'll hear from me until after the festive season. (My 18th birthday on Friday, and obviously Christmas the week after and then my sisters birthday on New Year's Day!) But I'll try to get back to you as soon as I can. So, Happy Christmas everyone! And I'll see you all in the new year!**

 **Please Review!**

 **-EndlessMoonrise X**


	3. Chapter 3

**AN- Annndddd final chapter! Again this took me longer than I planned but it's here now! Thank you all for the wonderful reviews so far, and I guess all that's left to say is, hope you enjoy the last instalment!**

 **Maddy's POV.**

When I found Rhydian the next morning he was lying on the river bank with his feet dangling in the water, and his eyes glowing yellow as they focused on the sky above his head.

Eolas.

I scoffed and shook my head at him. Most Wolfbloods used Eolas for practical reasons, to communicate with the pack, or search for danger and hunt for food. Rhydian on the other hand just liked to look, hand himself over to his instincts and see what he could find.

It didn't seem to have the same effect on him as it did on me, he could switch it on and off when he liked, and he certainly didn't go galavanting off around Newcastle with makeshift warpaint on his cheeks when he did use it.

Mam and Rhydian thought perhaps his wild ancestry made it easier for him to control it and stop it taking over, it came more naturally to him.

That said, I hadn't been totally truthful when I told mam I'd never use Eolas again, I didn't want to lose the ability to use it completely the way dad had, there might come a day when I needed to use it to find mam and dad, or Rhydian... Or maybe even my own cub one day.

I walked over and folded my legs beneath me, sitting down beside his head and nudging his shoulder. "Hey, daydreamer." He blinked his eyes and they dimmed back to human.

"Hey." He smiled, I leaned against his shoulder and he leaned back against me.

"You ready?" I asked him, nodding towards the water.

He laughed nervously, looking between me and the water. "You don't mess around do you?"

I shook my head and pushed myself of the bank and into the river. "I know you. The more you think about it, the worse you'll make it for yourself, the more you'll fret." I held out my hand for his. "Trust us."

He hesitated only slightly before seeming to agree and take my hand, shuffling forward warily before freezing and perching on the very edge. "How deep is it? Can you touch the bottom?"

I took his other hand and tugged gently. "I'm on my tip toes, so you'll be fine." I reassured him. "It's not as deep up here, I promise." The water would reach the tops of his shoulders at the most. He watched me for a few seconds before lowering himself the rest of the way in.

He gasped nervously and his heart rate rocketed, thudding rapidly against his ribs. His breath fluttered over my cheeks and he whimpered quietly so I reached up to touch the back of his neck and pull his face towards me. "Shhh." I soothed. "Rhydian, breathe."

He shook his head rapidly "Maddy, I can't."

He tried to escape but I pulled on his hand, drawing him closer. "Yes you can." I told him. "Just hold on to me." I pressed my nose to the side of his head. "Copy me, deep breaths." I held him tightly, breathing in and out steadily, trying to keep him calm and taking his hand in mine.

It didn't take long for me to figure out that not being able to swim wasn't our only problem, over the years he must have developed an intense fear of deep water, but I guess given the circumstances it was only natural.

His grip on my hand tightened almost painfully and his eyes flashed yellow in fear. He scrambled uncertainly, pulling his other hand out of mine, up to grip my shoulder before pulling it away in panic and gripping the side of the bank instead. "Maddy this is a bad idea, I could pull you under... I could..." I took his hand again and pressed the other against his chest.

He was prone to panic attacks, especially when he felt insecure like this, the first time he'd had one around me we'd been at his house. I couldn't even remember what we'd been doing, but something set him off and I'd been so scared I'd shouted for Mrs Vaughn.

She'd come into his room and sat him down on the bed in front of her, pulling his back against her chest and holding an arm across him. She'd rocked him gently and whispered softly in his ear and to this day it was one of the few, if not the only time I'd seen where Rhydian had let her hold him.

The whole experience had been terrifying, not just because Rhydian hadn't been able to catch his breath, but because his eyes had shone yellow and the veins in his cheeks and hands had pulsed the entire time she held him, he'd been so close to wolfing out, but luckily she was obviously too preoccupied to notice.

He'd had one or two since then, but I'd learned from the first time that the worst thing I could do was freak out on him, if I stayed calm he'd follow soon enough.

He gripped my waist tightly with his free hand, his fingers winding around the fabric of my shirt and I waited patiently while he reassured himself that his feet could touch the ground and he could keep his head above the surface. I shifted the fingers that gripped his hand and thread them between his own instead. "I've got you." I murmured, nuzzling his jaw gently.

Eventually he managed to relax a little and loosen his grip, syncing his breathing with mine and making his heart rate steady in response. "There... Good, See you're doing great."

"Don't baby me." He huffed and I rolled my eyes.

"I'm not babying you." I defended. "If I was babying you we'd be sitting in the shallows... This would be babying you... 'Clever boy!'" I cooed in that overly happy baby voice. "'Look how well he's doing! Such a clever lad.'" I reached up and pinched his cheek. "'Rhydian can have some bacon when we get home because he's been such a big boy! Yes he has!'"

"Shut up." He muttered, shaking his head at me and pushing my hand away. He tried to hide it but I could still see him smirking at me.

I grinned back at him and tugged on his hand gently. "Lie back against me."

"...What do you mean?" I rolled my eyes and moved to stand behind him. He knew exactly what I meant, he just didn't want to do it. I nudged the back of his legs with my toes and he jumped away from me. "What was that?!"

"My foot." I laughed, pulling him back again. "Relax, Rhydian... Trust me."

He turned back around to face me. "You know I trust you, I just don't trust myself not to drown."

"Then trust me not to let you drown." I circled my legs so I was treading water and was closer to eye level.

He shifted nervously, purposely taking some deep gasps of air to try and catch his breath, he lowered his head to press his nose against the side of my hair. "You know it's not that easy, Maddy."

He twisted to look back over at the bank but I touched his cheek and turned him back to face me. "Try to forget the water... Focus on me." I lifted his hand up and placed my free one on his shoulder. "Imagine we're at the disco." I laughed, and swayed us from side to side.

The corner of his mouth lifted in a half smirk. "Jefferies' epic tunes." He murmured.

Despite the dark moon we had actually gotten up and danced and mucked on a little... Well, Rhydian and I had, Jana hadn't liked the 'noisy box and flashy thingy' Which I think meant the speakers and disco lights, so she'd gone back to nap in the coats.

Tom and Shan had dragged us up to the dance floor, Tom swaying and twirling Rhydian around in his sleepy haze as he protested feebly and tried to push him away. Shannon and I had stood on the sidelines, laughing at their antics until Tom finally relented and let him go. Rhydian had clung close to my side for the rest of the night, places like that weren't his scene at all... He'd only really gone because I asked him to.

Despite how far he'd come from the quiet, socially awkward boy I'd met all those months ago, big crowds still unnerved him. So I'd stayed close and we joked around, dancing together as we tried to talk over the music. Well, I say dancing, it consisted more of swaying and leaning sleepily against each other. In that state we would have slept pretty much anywhere.

Right now though, he was gripping my shirt tightly, his fingers wringing through the fabric under the water. "At the disco I wasn't shoulder deep in water." He murmured nervously.

"I said forget about the water." I reminded him gently.

"Pretty hard to forget about it when it's... Everywhere... And it's moving and rising and I haven't a clue what's in it." He screwed his nose up.

I sniggered, swaying us around in a circle. "This is the River Derwent, not the Atlantic, or the Nile or whatever. What are you expecting, sharks? Crocodiles?" I grinned and snapped my teeth at him playfully.

But he just looked between me and the water, grimacing and squirming towards the bank, so I swung us around to face the other way. "Are there fish in this thing?"

I laughed and shook my head. "If there is they'd be tiny." I reassured him, but he still didn't look too pleased about the idea. "Come on!" I urged and pushed against him so I could twirl away from him.

I'd only gotten half a twirl away when he grabbed my waist roughly and tugged me back. "Maddy, Don't!" And I realised too late that he hadn't wanted me to let go of him. My forehead collided with his nose as he pulled me against him. "Oww" he hissed, but I was to preoccupied by the fact that, in his panic, his hands had found their way under the shirt mam had made me wear, and between the two pieces of my bikini, his fingers digging in against the bare skin at the small of my back.

"Sorry." I cringed, rubbing at my forehead, but he was already floundering around and mumbling his own apologies, all while trying to move his hands from under my shirt and keep some hold on me at the same time.

Finally he managed to pull us back to the river bank and hold on to that instead, pulling himself up out of the water and sitting on the edge. "I told you this was a bad idea."

I rolled my eyes at him from the water. "What do you want me to wear? A winter jacket? A onesie?"

"Not just that." He gestured vaguely to my bikini/ shirt combo before pulling his hand back awkwardly and looking away. "This whole thing is pointless, I can't do it."

"We haven't even tried the swimming part yet." I justified. "There's no point until your comfortable being in the water... If that means we just stand in it and talk for today, then that's fine, I never expected you to miraculously start swimming in a couple of hours."

He narrowed his eyes at me. "You don't? You said I'd pick it up in no time."

I tipped my head back into the water so I could slick my hair back out of my face. "And you will." I reassured. "A couple of days should do it, once it clicks it's like riding a bike."

He scoffed, kicking his legs in the water. "Ironic since no one ever taught me how to do that either." He muttered. I raised an eyebrow, but he shook his head before I could say anything. "Don't worry, taught myself that one... Picked up a whole load of scrapes and bruises along the way, but I got there eventually."

I huffed in annoyance. "And here's me thinking there was a boat load of foster parents like Mr Warbucks... Yours all seem to have been hopeless up until Michelle..." I scoffed. "...Mr Warbucks from 'Annie.'" I explained when he gave me a weird look.

"Oh." He laughed in realisation. "The rich bloke?" I grinned and nodded in conformation. "Yeah, not all of us get landed with a billionaire." He smirked.

"Admit it." I laughed, kicking myself back to float on the surface of the water on my back, my hair spreading out around my head. "That's secretly the reason you got yourself kicked out so much, you thought eventually you'd have to luck out and bag yourself a billionaire."

He laughed with me, one of those laughs that took over and made your stomach hurt, his head tilting back in boyish amusement. "You got me." He chuckled after we'd calmed down a little, but it didn't last long, one small snigger from me was contagious and the whole thing started up again.

When we finally managed to compose ourselves he smiled down at me, his eyes softening as he watched me. "...What?" I asked, smiling back at him.

He held my gaze a little longer before looking away. "I lucked out when I landed here, With you."

I laughed a little shakily, he had no idea how much that meant to me, knowing he was happy here, that out of everywhere he'd been, up and down the country, Stoneybridge was where he wanted to be. "You're sweet, but I'm no billionaire."

He shrugged. "Money doesn't make me happy... you do."

I blew out a breath, realising that I'd drifted a little further away than I'd wanted to in the current and kicking my way back up the river. "Alright Casanova, enough smooth talking from you for today."

He grinned, looking away shyly. "It's not smooth talking, it's the truth. You do make me happy."

I pursed my lips and sighed through my nose, eyeing him pointedly until he looked back at me. I could never tell whether he did this sort of thing on purpose or whether he was secretly just one of those lads that were naturally charming and did it without realising. Rhydian was different with me. He always had been, but the more comfortable he became with me, the more I was realising that there was a side to him that he only ever let me see. A confident side that could crack jokes and laugh until his stomach hurt, a side that would flirt with me and know fine well he was doing it.

He tilted his head to the side and narrowed his eyes at me. "How are you doing that?" I frowned at him in confusion, not sure what he was getting at. "Floating." He explained.

"Oh..." I tilted back up to touch my feet to the bottom. "I don't know... You don't really do anything... Just lie back." He looked skeptical, which I guess was understandable when you thought about it from his point of view. "You can't panic... Think about it like your wolf." I suggested. "If you fight it, panic about transforming, then you only make it worse for yourself, yeah?" He nodded in agreement. "Same thing applies here, you have to stay calm, breathe through it and don't let it consume you." I tilted myself back again to demonstrate, only moving my arms slightly to keep myself from following the current. "Wanna try?"

He watched me silently for a few seconds before nodding and sliding back into the water, clinging to the long grass that hung over the riverbank. I stood at started to swim over to collect him, before thinking better of it and stopping just out of reach, holding out my hands. "Come here then."

 **Rhydian's POV.**

I looked warily between her and the riverbank, knowing and dreading the fact that I'd have to let go and walk those few steps to get to her. I knew she was only doing it to try and prove to me I'd be okay, but I didn't like the way the water kept lifting and shifting my weight so I couldn't touch the floor, the current pulling at my feet and the fabric of my shirt, it made me feel like I was just going to get swept away down the river.

"Mads." I huffed, but she didn't give in, of course she didn't, I knew for a fact she never would either, I'd agreed to let her teach me, and she wouldn't rest until she had me swimming laps... Lengths? Ughh I didn't know!

"You'll be fine." She reassured.

I growled under my breath in frustration, just so she knew I wasn't happy, before shuffling my feet closer towards her. I tried to get as close to her as possible without letting go of the grass in my hands, but there was no way I was going to be able to reach her, so I forced myself to loosen my grip, my knuckles aching from holding on so tight and stood upright. My heart hammered heavily in my chest as the water flowed across my shoulders.

It took a few moments but eventually I managed to unclench my muscles and move my feet. I dragged them over the rocks and across the riverbed so I didn't have to lift them and risk loosing my footing. Once I got close enough I lifted my arm out towards her but she grinned and hopped a step back. "Maddy. Don't." I said shortly, I really wasn't in the mood for games right now.

She smiled reassuringly and took my hands, pulling herself closer then twisting around so she stood behind me. "Okay. I want you to lie back against me, head on my shoulder. Can you do that?" I turned my head to try and look at her, her shoulders were at least a few inches under the water, but I nodded anyway... She wouldn't let anything happen to me.

I leaned back and felt her take hold of my shoulders, lowering me down until I was resting against her, but the further back I went, the harder it was to keep my feet on the floor. The current of the river pushed them out from under me and towards the surface and I couldn't stop myself from grabbing Maddy's arms for support.

"You're fine." She reassured quickly. "I've got you...try to straighten your back and legs." I did as I was told and felt myself steady in the water, floating... I guess Maddy was right...

She nuzzled against my cheek, her face still damp with river water and laughed quietly. "You know in those dead cliche movies when someone's scared or panicking and the other kisses them as a distraction..."

"Don't even think about it." I laughed despite the panic coursing though me.

She grinned against my cheek. "Like you don't want to." She giggled.

"Of once... when I'm trying to focus on breathing... not really Mads." I stammered.

"Well, you wouldn't really have a choice I'm holding you up..."

I scoffed, she was right, I was pretty defenceless at the moment. "Your mum would eat me." I justified, and I didn't need to be able to see her face to know she'd be rolling her eyes at me.

"You know, most lads worry about the dad, but you're terrified of me mother. ' _Yes, Mrs Smith_.'" She mocked me. "' _Of course, Mrs Smith_.'"

She had a point, I did kinda suck up to her parents, but unlike Maddy, I didn't have the luxury of being their cub, I had to work for my place in the pack. Dan was pretty laid back but Emma... She was a little harder to predict... She didn't hate me, but she definitely didn't like me when I was getting her daughter into trouble... Or if I spent a little too long checking her out... "Your mum has this look." I told Maddy. "Like she's saying, ' _I know you fancy my daughter and you better keep your paws off!_ ' If she gave you that look you wouldn't call her Emma either..."

Maddy laughed, but I could feel her shifting her arms from my back to my shoulders. She kept talking before I could react though. "You didn't completely deny wanting to kiss me." She pointed out.

"That's because I wouldn't be very convincing." I admitted.

She grinned smugly and shook her head. "The whole responsible, grown up act doesn't fool me Rhydian Morris, you're still a hormonal teenager just like the rest of us...There's no way you're gonna make it to your eighteenth without kissing me."

"I can try." I reasoned. It would be better for both of us if I did, especially if I got kicked out...

She reached up and brushed some of my hair back from where it clung to my wet forehead. "Would you not be really disappointed though? If you waited these three years and it turns out I'm right and the Vaughn's didn't kick you out, that's three years we've spent that we could have been together."

"We would have been together." I justified. "Not _together_ together, but still... Together."

She sighed heavily, the sound muted by the water that submerged my ears. "I better get an epic date on the 21st of April 2016 to make up for all this waiting." She warned.

I laughed, tilting my head back a little to see her face. "You will, I promise..." I knew she didn't agree with me when it came to this subject, she was certain Mrs Vaughn wouldn't want to get rid of me... I think part of me knew Maddy was right, I was different then I had been before I came to Stoneybridge, I could control my wolf and my instincts and my temper a lot better than I used to, which was what had gotten me kicked out so many times before... But then the other part of me had learned from experience, my future, where and who I lived with, was never certain. It wouldn't be until I aged out of the system. "At least this way I have three years to plan it."

The corner of her mouth lifted in a smirk. "Oh then it better be super epic!"

"So... No pressure then." I scoffed.

She hummed quietly in amusement. "Rhydian?"

She was stood beside me now so I turned slightly to see her. "Yeah?"

She grinned at me and lifted her hands up in front of her, wiggling her fingers... Even then I was still so distracted by our conversation that it took a couple of seconds for me to realise she wasn't holding me up anymore. My first instinct was to panic and try to sit up, but she grabbed hold of me and held me still. "Relax." She ordered, inhaling deeply though her nose, and out though her mouth. I followed suit, forcing myself to stay still.

Once I managed to calm back down I watched as she slowly lifted her hands away again. I didn't start sinking the way I thought I would... So I guess it wasn't too bad really. "... I feel weird." It was the only way I could describe it.

Maddy walked around me, moving my arms an nudging my back to correct my posture. "Point your toes and kick your feet under the water." She instructed and reached for my feet.

I squirmed and pulled them away from her. "Don't"

She rolled her eyes and grabbed my ankle. "I'm not going to tickle you."

I screwed my toes up regardless. I was insanely ticklish, something Maddy knew all too well, and I especially didn't like people touching my feet. "Mads" I whined.

"Point your toes." She persisted.

I did as I was told and she let go. I moved my legs up and down cautiously, making sure I didn't tip over, I was a little more comfortable now but I still wasn't keen on putting my face in the water. I watched Maddy watch me and before I knew it my head collided with something hard, I frowned and looked up to find the grass that hung over the riverbank.

I sat back up and placed my feet back on the floor, we'd been at least four, maybe five metres away last time I checked. "Did you push me over here?"

"No." She grinned. "You did this all by yourself, you swam!"

I looked away self consciously and bit the inside of my cheek. "Hardly..."

She laughed, shoving me playfully. "Look at the grin on your face!"

I shoved her back but she quickly jumped up and wrapped her arms around my neck. "I told you, you could do it!"

I scoffed and wrapped my arms around her back, making sure my hands were above her shirt this time. I nuzzled against her and her wet hair clung to my cheeks. I laughed quietly and pulled it away, tucking it behind her ears... I'm pretty sure I planned to say something after that, but got too caught up in her eyes and the way the water droplets rested on her cheeks. "There's no way your gonna make it to eighteen." She smirked, nudging her nose with mine, I hadn't even realised we were that close. I huffed, exasperated, it certainly seemed that way.

She grabbed my hands and pulled me back out. "Come on, let's go again!"

* * *

 **Maddy's POV**

Three days.

Three days was all it took to get him swimming confidently on his own. There'd been arguments and temper tantrums, he'd 'given up' at least five times over the course of the first few days, but I found as long as I stood my ground, he was too stubborn to let me win.

I was proud of him though, for overcoming that fear and not letting it hold him back, it was one less thing from his past that could weigh him down... And of course, l was also a little smug that I'd been the one to teach him.

"Right!" I announced. "I think we're done!"

He circled me, swimming on his back and kicking his legs like I'd taught him. "What? Like _done_ done."

"Well, you're swimming aren't you? I don't really know what else I need to teach you" I told him.

"Just a little longer, how do you know I won't still freak out next time? I need more practice." He pleaded, giving me the eyes. He accused me of puppy eyes but he was just as bad for it. However recently his eyes didn't stay on mine for long, it seemed the more comfortable he got the more his focus was on me, my legs or where my shirt was falling down over my shoulders, to be exact.

I snapped my fingers in front of his face and he looked away bashfully. "If you weren't comfortable you'd be more distracted by the water than me." I laughed, I couldn't resist. He looked away hurriedly, scowling at the water and I decided to go a little easier on him. "Aren't you hungry?" I asked, changing the subject for him to save him the embarrassment. "I'm hungry, I haven't eaten since last night?" This was what I got for agreeing to early morning swimming lessons.

"Neither have I." He scoffed. "And I've not had any meat since hog roast... Two nights ago!"

I started swimming back towards the bank. "That's settled then, burgers at Bernie's!"

He grabbed my ankle and pulled me back. "Ten more minutes."

"Rhyd..." Before I could protest he ducked under the water and disappeared, I shook my head at him. I'd been hard pushed to get him out of the water yesterday, yes the same boy who wouldn't even step into it last week. On day two it was almost as though something just clicked and after that it was just a case of teaching him the right techniques.

I felt him grab my ankles again and rolled my eyes, I was pretty sure he was trying and failing to scare me. What I wasn't expecting was for him to pull my legs out from under me. I squealed as I fell backwards into the water.

When I surfaced a few moments later he was laughing, I pushed my hair off my face as best I could and scowled at him. He sniggered, smirking cheekily at me... So I waited, glare still in full force until he looked away ever so slightly. I took the opportunity and spat a mouthful of water in his face.

"Maddy! He spluttered and I laughed quietly, tilting back to float on my back.

He ran his hands over his face and pushed his hair back, the water making it stick up wildly in all directions. "... You know, there's no one around... I wanna try in wolf form..." He said eagerly, and I groaned. "Can you swim in wolf form?"

"Yeah, dad taught me while you were away in the wild, it's not that hard." I explained as he swam towards the bank and climbed out. "Mam made sure to hose me down in the yard after though... And believe me, it's not worth the hose down. You remember the last one, right?" We'd had to hose his wolf down when he returned from the wild, his fur matted with mud and sweat and... tree sap. How he'd managed that last one I still didn't know.

Being washed in wolf form was awkward and embarrassing, but you didn't feel properly clean as a human if your wolf was mucky... "And the brush!" I continued. Mam had one of those dog brushes with the wire bristles that she used to brush our fur out, it was like having your skin pulled in all directions. "You can't want to be brushed..." Rhydian took a running start towards the river, leaping forward and taking wolf form mid flight, before taking one last jump off the edge of the bank and into the river, paws first. "Again..." I finished, and sighed heavily as the resulting splash rained over me.

Wolf Rhydian doggy paddled over to me, tongue lolled out to the side and ears pricked up in excitement. I tried to keep a straight face and not let on how amused I was, but he just looked so proud of himself I couldn't help but smirk. "Y'daft mutt." I laughed.

He barked happily and licked my face, so I screwed up my nose and pushed his muzzle away. I let him paddle for a few minutes, Giving him the same little tips my dad had given me. 'Use your tail like a rudder' 'Spread out your toes." But it didn't take long for my stomach to start growling at me to feed it, finally I headed back towards the bank. "Come on, I'm going to Bernie's, with or without you." I was far too hungry to wait now.

He paddled alongside me and I helped push him up to dry land before pulling myself up. He shook his fur out, spraying water everywhere and making his fur stick up the same way his hair had before. "You finished?" I laughed, bunching up my hair and wringing the water out of it.

He transformed back dusting off his hands before lying down on one of the towels, and reaching over for his rucksack to pull a can of cola from the side pocket. "We can still come swimming now that I've learnt how though, can't we?"

I frowned. "Of course we can."

"Good..." He smiled softly, opening the can and taking a drink.

I spread my towel out by his and lay down beside him. "...Why?" I asked a few moments later, when he didn't say any more.

He shrugged and passed the can to me so I could have a drink. "I've missed this... spending time just the two of us... It's not that I don't like being out with Tom, Shan and Jana but... I just..."

"I get it." I reassured him. Once Tom and Shan found out about us, we all became closer as friends. We spent a lot more time as a pack, as opposed to before when Rhydian and I would make naff excuses and sneak off to really let our wolves loose. We still got our time together when he lived with us, late nights talking and watching films in each others rooms...but now... Things were different.

We didn't get as much time alone as we used to, and as much as I loved Tom and Shan, and as much as I was growing to like Jana. Rhydian would always be the only person that really understood me, and sometimes it was just nice to be able to really talk to him, there were no limits or boundaries or taboo subjects or secrets... I could tell him anything and he'd listen to me.

I turned my head against his shoulder, hesitating only slightly before reaching down and threading his fingers through mine. He squeezed my hand and pressed his nose against my hair. "Thanks, Mads."

I smiled softly and nudged his jaw with my nose in response... There was one thing I hadn't managed to work up the courage to say, I'd seen how he reacted when people said it to him, mainly Mrs Vaughn or his mum, he shied away or shifted awkwardly and tap his fingers together. It made him uncomfortable to hear it, mostly because he hadn't believed it was possible for so long, It was the one of the few walls we had left to break, So I was too scared about how he'd react if I told him...

What would he do or say if I told him I loved him..?

 **AN- And there we have it! The end of another story! I hope you all enjoyed this one and thank you all again for your continued support. I don't currently have anymore ideas, I'm going to try and get back into 'We Were a Family Once.' But I hope to hear from you all again soon!**

 **Please Please Review!**

 **\- EndlessMoonrise X**


End file.
